I would imagine that most geographies had close to their busiest seasons ever this season in spite of, or perhaps because of, Covid.
I just listened to the episode of the Storm Skiing Journal where Stuart interviews the founder of the Indy Pass (the episode came out at the end of April), and he mentioned that Indy Pass skier visits jumped from roughly 8,500 to 96,000 from last season to this season! And it sounds like while that's mostly due to selling more passes, people also used their Indy Passes more (more redemptions per skier). He also mentioned that multiple ski areas on the pass said that they hit records for skier visits this season.
Also, I agree with @David Chaus about how Crystal handled the pandemic, I believe they did a very good job despite a few hiccups early on. I was especially impressed that they opened when there was snow, and then stayed open for bonus weekends through last weekend. In some ways I am going to miss the reservation system next season only because there will be the fear that I won't have a parking spot if I get there "late" (i.e., after 7:30am on weekends or powder days), whereas days when I had a reservation I had no problem finding parking.
I will be really curious to see what happens to skier visits next season. How much of the increased interest in skiing will carry over? Will people move on to other activities now that it will be safe for them to do so? Or will people who took up skiing, or did more skiing, keep doing so? My parents didn't do their annual trip to Utah this season, so they're planning on making up for it by taking two trips out west next year, which is one more trip than usual.
I just listened to the episode of the Storm Skiing Journal where Stuart interviews the founder of the Indy Pass (the episode came out at the end of April), and he mentioned that Indy Pass skier visits jumped from roughly 8,500 to 96,000 from last season to this season! And it sounds like while that's mostly due to selling more passes, people also used their Indy Passes more (more redemptions per skier). He also mentioned that multiple ski areas on the pass said that they hit records for skier visits this season.
Also, I agree with @David Chaus about how Crystal handled the pandemic, I believe they did a very good job despite a few hiccups early on. I was especially impressed that they opened when there was snow, and then stayed open for bonus weekends through last weekend. In some ways I am going to miss the reservation system next season only because there will be the fear that I won't have a parking spot if I get there "late" (i.e., after 7:30am on weekends or powder days), whereas days when I had a reservation I had no problem finding parking.
I will be really curious to see what happens to skier visits next season. How much of the increased interest in skiing will carry over? Will people move on to other activities now that it will be safe for them to do so? Or will people who took up skiing, or did more skiing, keep doing so? My parents didn't do their annual trip to Utah this season, so they're planning on making up for it by taking two trips out west next year, which is one more trip than usual.